


The Video File

by Persiflage



Series: Bondkink Fics [20]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies), James Bond (Movies), Skyfall (2012) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Clothed Sex, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Older Man/Younger Woman, Older Woman/Younger Man, Prompt Fic, Shower Sex, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-24
Updated: 2012-11-24
Packaged: 2017-11-19 09:36:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/571842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persiflage/pseuds/Persiflage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Silva attempts to get revenge on M and Bond from beyond the grave.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Video File

**Author's Note:**

> Sort of written for the bondkink comm on LJ, insofar as it was inspired by this prompt: _Dench!M/Craig!Bond , Sex Tape leaks, everyone freaks_ but then the rocket-fuel powered plot bunny went off on a tangent. (This was the fic that ate my brain - I spent over 12 hours writing it despite plumbers in the house, and three hours at work! o_O)

Arriving at work one Friday morning about a month after M's death Eve was surprised to meet Q scurrying out of Mallory's office, a more-than-usually anxious expression on his face. His furtive air puzzled Eve, as did the sound of her boss' voice calling her into the office since he didn't usually want to see her before 9.15am, and it wasn't yet nine o'clock.

"Sir?" 

Eve still hadn't got used to the change of management: the hardest thing was remembering to call him 'M'. To her mind, 'M' meant the fiercely intelligent older woman with a blue-eyed stare that seemed to read the thoughts off the back of her brain at least half a dozen times a day. She didn't doubt Mallory's intelligence, or his ability to do the job (much), but he was not 'M'.

"When's Bond due back?" 

"Late tonight, sir. He should hit tarmac at 9.23pm."

Mallory nodded, his expression grim. "Come in, and shut the door, please." 

Eve obeyed, her curiosity piqued. Surely James hadn't been causing trouble, she thought, not when his assignment was already finished.

"You'd better come and look at this," Mallory said, beckoning her towards his desk. 

Eve approached, and took the seat he indicated alongside him, then she looked at his monitor and gasped. There was a video file open on the computer, and it clearly showed M having sex with someone; the man's back was to the camera, and most of the light seemed to be on her, not him.

"Is that – ?" she began, then stopped. It looked like James Bond: the figure had his broad shoulders. _Surely not?_ she thought, then felt guilty, because why shouldn't they? She knew, from various little things that Bond and M had said at different times, that they had known each other a very long time, and she herself had known both of them long enough to sense that the connection between them ran very deep. But it hadn't occurred to her that they were lovers, and she felt foolish for not realising. She tuned in again in time to hear M saying something about 'last time', and realised that this hadn't been their first time together. Bond responded – and it was clear that it was James' voice – in a light, teasing tone that she'd never heard from him when he'd been flirting with her, and Eve suddenly felt irrationally jealous.

Mallory shifted beside her, and Eve snapped back to an awareness of the present with a flush of heat that combined embarrassment and arousal.

"Where did this come from, sir?" she asked, not daring to look at him for the moment.

"It was emailed to me anonymously," Mallory said, shifting again.

Eve flicked a sideways glance at him, and saw from his expression that he was also embarrassed; she dropped her gaze and couldn't help noticing that he seemed to be aroused as well. She clenched her thighs together, aware that feeling the urge to have her boss bend her over his desk and fuck her was not a helpful state to be in.

"I've asked Q to see if he can trace the sender, naturally," Mallory continued.

Eve couldn't help making eye contact again as his words registered. "You didn't – " she began, then stopped herself, aware that her question was impertinent.

"I didn't show him the file, no." His tone was dryly amused. "I didn't think it would be helpful."

"No, sir."

"The sender has demanded money from me in order to ensure that the original of that doesn't get sent to the Press."

Eve swallowed. "How much?"

"Too much," Mallory answered tersely. "On the other hand, I would do anything I could to protect the good name of my predecessor. She doesn't deserve to have the general public being titillated by the sight of her having relations with one of my best agents. And Bond doesn't deserve it either." He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face, and she realised he looked weary. "I can't condemn them for what they did." A pause. "It was M who recruited Bond, you know?"

Eve shook her head. "I didn't know that, sir."

Mallory nodded. "He was orphaned very young, and she recruited him while he was still a schoolboy at Fettes, in Edinburgh. She spotted his potential straight away. She had a brilliant knack for recruiting agents."

"What are we going to do about this?" She nodded towards the screen.

"Find out who sent it and how they got hold of it, and make them regret it very hard." Mallory's tone was as hard and steely as M's had ever been when someone had pissed her off, and Eve suddenly felt a little more certain that the higher-ups had given the job to the right man.

"I'm going to ask you to do a difficult thing," he continued. "I want you to watch this and see if you can work out where or when it was filmed. Get M's appointments diary from the archive room and see if you can find a gap in her schedule. If we can find out when or where it happened, we might have more of a clue as to who's behind it." He gave her a rueful smile. "Of course, you can't take this away with you. So I'm sorry to say you'll have to watch it in my office when you're not busy with other stuff, and when I'm out."

Eve nodded. "Yes, sir." There were several things she wanted to say to him, but she swallowed them unsaid.

007-007-007

Eve fetched M's appointment diaries for the last two years, initially, and when Mallory went off to a meeting of the Intelligence and Security Committee, she settled herself at his desk with the books and the video file.

She began watching and making notes of anything said by either M or Bond that might give her a clue as to when this had taken place. She had brought the headphones she used when listening to dictation, reasoning she would probably be able to hear more with them on. What she didn't realise was that she'd be less likely to hear Mallory when he returned, and when his hand lightly clasped her shoulder, she started so badly that she banged her knee on the underside of his desk and had to bite back a curse.

"Ouch!" He winced sympathetically at her, then apologised as she pulled off the headphones. "You okay?" He glanced down at her legs as she pushed the chair back and inched up her skirt to check her knee for bruises.

She looked up to answer him and found herself speechless: he was staring down at her legs with such a hungry expression that she almost came; a shudder of desire shook her and when his eyes met hers, she had to fight the urge to pull him down to her level and snog him silly.

"I – uh – um – " she stuttered, flustered and desperate for something, anything, to say to lessen the sexual tension that had suddenly thickened the air around her.

"I beg your pardon, Miss Moneypenny, for startling you. Are you injured?"

His words, so formal and courteous, jolted her back to reality. "I'm okay," she said quickly. "I've pinned down a time-frame."

He pulled up another chair, waving her back when she started to get to her feet to let him have his seat back.

"When?"

"Six months ago. James – I mean Mr Bond – says something about Peru. I couldn't hear it all because – " She broke off, licking her lips when Mallory looked at her.

"Because?" he prompted.

Eve dropped her gaze. "Mr Bond begins licking – " _Oh God, I cannot finish that sentence with 'M's pussy' or 'M's cunt',_ she thought desperately. "And the rest of the sentence is lost. But I know when he went to Peru." 

"Good."

"Sir?"

"Yes?"

"We could just ask Mr Bond when and where this happened," she suggested.

His eyebrows rose. "And wouldn't _that_ be an interesting conversation?" he asked dryly.

Eve flushed. "Well, yes, I know it wouldn't be easy, but it might save us time."

"I'm hoping we can find out everything we need to know without Bond ever knowing we've seen this," Mallory said.

"Oh." She hadn't realised he'd go so far as to suppress the file's existence from James; thinking of James made her wonder how she'd ever be able to keep this secret from him. He was awfully good at picking up on other people's thoughts and feelings, especially when they were keeping secrets: he and M had seemed to share that talent, and to have it in spades. 

"You think I should tell him?" Mallory asked.

"I think it might be better in the long run," she said carefully. "If he found out later, I imagine he'd be even more furious than if you told him now."

"I'll consider it."

"Yes, sir."

"In the meantime, well done on what you've achieved so far." He glanced at his watch. "Why don't you go and get yourself some lunch?

"Thank you, sir."

She made her way out of his office, dropping her headphones onto her desk before she grabbed her coat and handbag. She glanced at her watch as she wondered if she had time to get to her flat and back: she was so desperately horny that she felt the need to indulge herself. No, the traffic was going to be lousy at this time of the day, she'd just have to save it until tonight, although it wasn't going to be easy to concentrate. 

007-007-007

"How long have we got?" asked Bond as M led him into the hotel room.

"A couple of hours at least." She smirked up at him. "Think that'll be long enough for you?"

"I daresay it'll suffice." His smirk echoed hers as he shrugged out of his overcoat, then helped M out of hers. She gave a shiver as his fingers lingered on her neck and shoulders, then moaned softly as he bent his head and grazed his teeth down her throat as he stood behind her.

"James," she said, her voice low and full of the urgent longing she felt for him.

"Yes love?"

"We don't have time to spare for you to spend hours on foreplay." She deeply regretted that fact. "I'm sorry."

He lifted his head and took both her hands in his, then ducked his head again to press kisses against her knuckles. "It's not your fault," he said softly.

He let go of her hands and began undressing her, pausing occasionally to kiss her mouth or the skin he'd just exposed. When she was naked he picked her up and carried her over to the bed, then swiftly stripped off his own clothes before climbing onto the bed beside her. 

M moaned as he lowered his body over hers, then guided his erect cock into her slick heat. 

"All right?" he asked, his voice husky.

"Yes." 

He grinned down at her, then kissed her hard, all teeth and tongue, as he began to thrust. 

"Come on, James, harder," she urged, wrapping her legs around his and pushing her hips up to meet his downward strokes. 

"How shocked would your staff be if they knew you're not really the Ice Queen everyone else thinks you are?" 

"Let's hope they never find out," she answered. "I've worked hard to acquire that reputation."

He chuckled, and she smirked up at him, then moaned again as her first orgasm hit her. 

"Think you can beat your record from last time?" she asked once she'd caught her breath again.

"Were you keeping count last time?" he asked, pausing in his thrusting to look down at her, clearly astonished.

"Of course. I am 'the Evil Queen of Numbers' after all."

He laughed at her quoting that old nickname of Tanner's. "So what was my record last time?" he asked lightly.

"Four, all told."

"Then I'll endeavour to beat it today, ma'am."

She slapped his thigh. "Don't call me that in bed, James!" she protested. 

"Too kinky?" 

"Too weird. Bad enough I'm your boss as well as your – well, whatever you want to call me, mistress?"

"Lover," he said softly, pausing in his thrusts to stare intently down at her.

She shook her head slightly, then wriggled beneath him to encourage him to continue and he bit back a laugh as he resumed.

Soon all attempts at conversation fell by the wayside as she gasped and moaned, urging him on with single words of "More" and "Harder", and repetitions of his name. She dug her fingers into his arms as he pushed her over the edge a second time, crying out, "Yes, yes!" She felt him reach his own climax moments later, and found it was enough to trigger a third orgasm for her.

She pulled his head down to kiss him, ignoring the beads of perspiration that dripped from his forehead.

"Thank you."

He grinned. "That was only three."

She chuckled. "It was." She glanced across at his watch, which he'd left lying on the bedside table. "You've got time for at least a couple more, though."

"Insatiable little witch," he growled. M laughed, then groaned as he eased his softening cock from her. He shifted down the bed, settling himself between her spread legs, and began licking a path up her inner left thigh.

"How long do you think you'll need in Peru?" she asked.

He lifted his head. "Really?" he asked. "You're asking me that _now_? Am I not trying hard enough?"

She reached down and cupped his cheek. "Of course not," she said quietly. "I was just wondering how soon before you come back to me. I wanted to see if we could manage a weekend together, out of London."

His exasperated expression melted. "Sorry." He turned his head and pressed a kiss to the palm of her hand. "I think two weeks ought to be ample time."

She nodded. "Then I'll make sure I've got a clear weekend three weeks from now."

He nipped at her thumb as she pulled her hand away, then ducked his head to resume his ministrations, and M soon found herself clutching handfuls of bedding as his tongue and two of his fingers drove her to another orgasm.

He pulled himself back up the bed and lay beside her, licking his lips and breathing heavily.

"We'd better shower before we leave," M said, her tone regretful. She wished he didn't have to go, wished they could just curl up together and fall asleep, and wake up to have breakfast together in the morning. But that was a fantasy, she knew – although she hoped that if she could clear a weekend for after James' return from Peru, that they could live the fantasy for at least two days.

"Well, I don't mind going off smelling of you," he said, his tone teasing. "But it's probably best if you don't go off smelling of me."

"Oh get up, Bond."

She started to sit up, then let out a brief cry as he grabbed her waist and pulled her back to sprawl against him as he began tickling her.

"What was that for?" she gasped as she fended him off.

"Calling me Bond." 

She scrambled out of his reach, then got off the bed and headed towards the en suite bathroom. "Come along, _Bond_ ," she said, emphatically.

He pretended to glare at her, then laughed and scrambled off the bed himself. He caught her up in his arms, carrying her across the threshold and into the bathroom, where he set her back down on her feet.

"Foolish man," she scolded, but he just smirked as he opened the door of the shower cubicle and gestured for her to precede him.

Once inside he used the jet from the shower head in addition to his fingers, to drive M to another orgasm, before applying the water, together with some shower gel, in a more conventional manner to get them both clean.

By the time he'd finished, he was hard again; M turned off the water, then led him out of the shower cubicle and shoved him down into the chair before crouching down and taking his cock into her mouth.

He gasped, and tried not to clutch at her too tightly. "You can be as insatiable as you like if you're going to reward me like that," he said, his voice rough with want. 

She lifted one eyebrow at him, but didn't remove his cock from her mouth to answer; she wanted to bring him off again before they parted company, and she knew, because he'd told her, how much it meant to him when she did it this way. 

He came with a muted shout, clutching her shoulders hard as she swallowed and swallowed until he was spent. He helped her up and then wrapped his arms around her, nuzzling her hair.

"Thank you, M."

She pulled back from him, then grabbed the back of his neck and bent his head down to kiss him hard on the mouth. "Just make sure you come back safely," she admonished.

"I'll do my best," he said, and she knew she'd have to be content with his promise, given how few guarantees there were in his line of work.

They dried themselves off swiftly, then returned to the other room and dressed again in silence. As she was about to unlock the door he stopped her with a hand on her back and bent his head for a long, heartfelt kiss. Then he stepped through the door ahead of her, swept a glance up and down the corridor, before nodding, and she gave a half-smile as she followed him out. She locked the door again, then they made their way downstairs, and back to their scheduled lives.

007-007-007 

After lunch, Mallory conceded that Eve had learned all that she could from viewing the video file, and he agreed that he'd better tell Bond about it that evening.

"I'll go and meet him off the plane," he said.

"Do you want me to come with you, sir?" she asked. "It might help to defuse the situation a bit if you don't tell him on your own."

"And if you're there with me, he might think the whole of HQ knows about it and is laughing and whispering behind his back," Mallory said.

"He might, but, with respect sir, Mr Bond's known me longer than he has you, and he knows how much I respect M, I mean, the previous M, so he might be more inclined to believe me when I tell him that's not the case."

He nodded thoughtfully, rubbing a finger across his top lip. "I daresay you're right, Miss Moneypenny."

As Eve turned away to head back to her own office, he spoke again. "Look, why don't you come and have dinner with me tonight, and then we can go and collect Bond together. Save on the back and forth."

She felt a leap of excitement in her stomach and immediately told herself that she ought to refuse his invitation, however much sense it made. But she wasn't inclined to listen to herself.

"I'd like that, sir, thank you."

"Good." The word and the nod that accompanied it were emphatic and she thought he sounded satisfied. She went back to her desk with the feeling that she was walking on air.

An hour later Q turned up, wearing such a glum expression that she was forced to conclude that he'd had no luck in tracing the sender of the video file.

Mallory called her back into his office after Q had trodden back out again, trailing an air of gloom as he headed for Q branch.

"Sir?"

"It seems our mystery video sender is something of a joker," he said, his tone weary and irritated.

"How so, sir?"

"The sender bounced the message through a number of servers around the globe, according to young Q, but it appears to have been sent from one of our machines."

Eve tried not to gape at him. "Not M's?"

"Now how did you know that?" he asked, sounding suspicious.

"Well, sir, if you're going to try to embarrass, humiliate or antagonise MI6, cloning one of our machines in order to send us such a potentially scandalous video file is the most obvious thing to do." She bit her finger absently. "It's certainly what I'd have done in their place."

He gave a brisk nod. "Good reasoning, Miss Moneypenny, and quite right. The sender, so Q tells me, cloned M's laptop, so we're no further forward than we were on that score."

"Maybe James – Mr Bond – will have some ideas as to who could've sent it?" she suggested.

"Let's hope so." He looked at his watch. "I'll be ready to leave in another hour."

"Yes, sir." She hurried back out to her desk to finish her work. If she was going to have dinner with her boss, it really wouldn't do to keep him waiting.

An hour later they were in the car and manoeuvring through the traffic. Eve watched from the corner of her eye as Mallory drove, thinking about how strong and deft his hands were, like James Bond's. Of course, that thought immediately brought back the images of James and M on the video she'd watched, and she felt a surge of desire, as well as a pang of jealousy. She knew she was being stupid, because she'd had no indication from M that _she_ was interested in women as well as men, but she still envied James the easy, teasing intimacy the pair had displayed.

"Penny for them Miss Moneypenny," Mallory said, breaking into her silent reverie with a grin that she was tempted to call flirtatious.

"Oh – um," she floundered for a moment, then decided to be bold. "I was just thinking about M and James – they seemed very right together."

She glanced across at him and saw a faint pinkness in his cheeks; she also noted the way he shifted in his seat, and wondered if he was getting an erection. That thought then made her shift awkwardly as she grew slick and aroused.

 _I shouldn't have agreed to dinner_ , she thought ruefully. _Should've gone home and had a good wank instead._ She cleared her throat and glanced across at Mallory again.

"You're right," he agreed. "I was wondering how long they'd been involved. I take it that you've no idea?"

"No sir. They managed to hide it very well, at least from the staff. I'm sure no one else had any idea because there was no gossip or rumours." She shook her head. "In fact, given M's tendency to extreme sarcasm at James' expense, I'd assumed she didn't even like him very much. He always seemed to exasperate her."

Mallory uttered a muffled snort of laughter. "I can well believe he _did_ exasperate her as an agent, but she clearly managed to separate the agent from the private man." He sighed. "She must've been very good at compartmentalising her life. A skill I've yet to fully master where this job's concerned."

Before Eve could offer an answer, he slowed the car, then turned into a drive that sloped down to a garage underneath a house. Mallory drove down into the garage, then climbed out, and she followed him. It occurred to her that he might be married with two children and a dog, for all she knew, but he'd never given her that kind of vibe.

"Come through, Miss Moneypenny," he said, leading the way via a door that gave onto the hallway of the ground floor of the house. 

"Don't you think you'd better call me Eve?" she said, grinning at him. "Miss Moneypenny's such a mouthful."

The look he gave her was so hot and intense that it took her a moment to register what she'd said, or rather, how it had sounded.

"Eve." It was all he said, but his voice was low and as intense as his eyes, and when he bent his head to kiss her, his hand holding the back of her neck, she felt as if he'd set fire to her whole body.

She kissed him back, as hard and as hungrily as he was kissing her, and pressed her body firmly against his. She felt his cock stiffening as she ground herself against him and then felt a gush of moisture inside her pussy as she came.

He grabbed her, spun her around, and shoved her back to the wall, hiking her skirt up and groping for her underwear. She felt him hitch aside the gusset of her thong, and then his cock was sliding inside her. She came again, and he grunted as her pussy muscles contracted around his shaft, then he began to fuck her. 

She lifted her leg and he immediately grabbed her arse, picking her up off the floor; this had the added advantage of shoving his prick even deeper inside her. Eve groaned, clutching his shoulders harder as she wrapped her legs tightly around his waist.

She was dimly aware that this was the most primal fucking in which she'd ever engaged, but she didn't really care; all that mattered was Gareth's cock pounding into her, and making him lose control.

She lost control herself, but only moments before he did; he stilled with a gasp of her name, then she felt his seed pouring into her, at which point she leaned forward and kissed him hard again.

"Bloody hell woman!" he gasped when she pulled back.

"Be honest, you've been wanting to do that since before today, haven't you?" she asked, smirking at him as he lowered her feet back to the floor.

"Yes," he sighed, easing his cock out of her and stepping back. "Do you mind?"

She snorted a laugh. "Hardly. I wanted to jump your bones the minute we were introduced to each other."

Mallory laughed. "Well, that's a relief."

007-007-007

He showed her upstairs to the bathroom so that she could clean up, but they ended up in the bedroom instead, and this time Eve took charge; she pulled his trousers down as far as his knees, then straddled his thighs and sank down onto his prick.

"Christ, Eve!" 

His stuttering moan drove her crazy and she rode him hard, pinning him down so that he could only thrust shallowly as she rocked and circled her hips, and squeezed her muscles around him until he exploded inside her a second time. Afterwards she stretched out on top of him, his cock still buried inside her, and kissed him, occasionally nipping at his lower lip.

Dinner was a rushed meal of soup and bread because they'd spent so long upstairs, and then had to shower as well so they didn't meet Bond smelling of sex (although Eve privately suspected he'd figure out what she and Mallory had been doing).

They got to the airfield with ten minutes to spare, and made their way through to the lounge where they knew Bond would pick up his bag.

"I hope you realise this evening wasn't a one-off, Eve," Mallory said quietly as they waited.

"I'm glad to hear it, Gareth." She bumped his arm with her shoulder, then grinned up at him when he glanced down.

"We'll have to be discreet, of course," he said, then sighed. "As discreet as Bond and M apparently were, but without meeting in any hotels."

"Yes, sir." Eve answered him formally because she'd just spotted James approaching from the corridor beyond the lounge.

* * * * * *

The moment he saw Mallory and Eve waiting for him in the airfield lounge, Bond knew there was bad news coming because he couldn't think of any other reason for them to be there at this time on a Friday night. Mallory's expression was grim and Eve looked anxious as they greeted him, but he didn't miss the way Eve looked at Mallory when she thought Bond wasn't looking, and he figured out they'd got together. He wondered how long the relationship would last and if it would be anything like as wonderful as his and M's had been outside of work.

"What's wrong?" he asked as Mallory led the way out to his car.

"We've got a bit of a security issue, Bond," Mallory said once they were all in the car, Eve in the back but leaning forward between their seats. "Show him, Miss Moneypenny." 

"Sir." Eve passed him a laptop, and Bond opened it curiously. 

His eyes widened when he saw the video file, then he sat, rigid with anger, and watched it play. "Where did you get this?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"I was sent it overnight," Mallory said. "Anonymously, of course."

"Who else has seen it?" Bond didn't look at either one of them as he watched the last few minutes play.

"Only us two," Eve said immediately. "M asked Q to see if he could trace the message, but Q hasn't seen the video file, just the email message itself."

"Show me the message." Bond allowed Mallory to take the laptop back long enough to open his email program, then enter a password to open a secured folder.

Bond read the message, which was succinct and to the point: _Unless you want the attached to be made public, I suggest you provide me with £50,000. You've got 48 hours to decide, Mr Mallory._

"Little shit!" He ground his teeth, then passed the laptop back to Eve. "What are you going to do?"

"Do you remember which hotel you used?" Mallory asked.

"Yes. We alternated between three." He gave Mallory the name, remembering that the staff there had always seemed charmingly indifferent to the identity of himself and M. 

"Now we know which hotel it was, Eve can go down and investigate, discreetly of course. She's had field training and experience, so she's the best person for the job. That's the reason I showed her the file instead of keeping this to myself – it would be a bad idea for me to go there, and an even worse one for you to do it."

"Very well." Bond didn't like the idea of having to sit on his hands, but he could see the force of Mallory's argument.

"Don't worry, James, we'll get to the bottom of this," Eve said, laying her small hand on his arm. "We all respect M's memory too much to want to let this go public."

Bond gave a brief nod, then turned to stare out of the side window, and after a moment Mallory started up the car and pulled out of the car park.

007-007-007

Bond slept badly that night; in part that was to be expected, since he always took a couple of days to readjust to life after an assignment. But he dreamt of M again, as he had not since just after she'd died. The worst thing was that he knew it was a dream, and that he would never again see her giving him that pursed lips look she seemed to reserve especially for him when he'd exasperated her; that he would never again let himself into her flat and surprise her when she got home from the office or some boring meeting; that they would never again make love with the passionate abandon of two people who'd come together later in life and somehow found themselves soulmates of a sort. 

He relived, again, those awful moments when he had cradled M in his arms as she faded away, leaving him with a final ironic quip about making a run for it. He woke himself with a jerk, biting back a cry of anguish, then lay with an arm over his eyes as he tried to fight back tears. He wondered how the hell he was going to get through the next however many years he had left without M in his life. It wasn't just that he'd miss the sex (although he would, of course), but he'd also miss her quick witted responses, her dry sarcasm, the lift of an interrogative eyebrow when she wasn't in the mood to waste words, the warm smile when he caught her in a good mood, the way she often reduced someone (including him) to speechlessness with a devastating observation. He remembered the last time they'd made love, after he'd returned from his supposed death in Turkey; she'd pretended that he wouldn't be able to stay with her because she was so annoyed with him for not sending word he was still alive, then she'd pinned him – him! – against the wall outside the bathroom and kissed him nearly senseless. Sex, after that, had been a foregone conclusion, but she'd made him work hard for his pleasure, and it had seemed all the sweeter as a result.

He wept then, sobbing out all his anguish for the woman who'd made him the man he was and yet had still loved him.

007-007-007

He must have gone back to sleep because the next thing he knew, his mobile phone was ringing. He reached out and grabbed it, stabbing blearily at the buttons until he managed to answer the call.

"Yeah?"

"It's Eve. I've found our man."

Bond sat bolt upright in bed, instantly awake. "Who? How? Where the hell is he?" he demanded.

"Meet me outside the hotel in half an hour and I'll take you to him," she said.

"I'll be there."

He didn't bother to shave or shower, he just dressed fast, then grabbed some things together that he thought he might need, before running downstairs and out to the back yard where he had stored his Harley, bought to replace the Aston Martin which Silva had destroyed. 

He dragged on his crash helmet, then wheeled the bike along the side passage of the house before kicking it into life and heading off towards King's Cross Station and St Pancras. He had no idea how Eve had managed to find the man so fast, but he recalled she'd been no slouch when they were out in Turkey. He also recalled how fiercely devoted to M Eve had seemed to be, and decided that the 'how' didn't matter – all that was important was that she'd achieved what he'd thought might be impossible.

* * * * * *

Eve was waiting outside the hotel looking relaxed and casual in jeans and a pale blue shirt under a leather jacket. He pulled up alongside her and she wandered over as if she had all the time in the world. 

"Park over there," she murmured, gesturing with a tiny nod to the relevant place. "Then I'll take you to him."

Bond gave a quick nod, then walked the motorbike across the pavement before killing the engine. He took off his helmet, then chained it and the bike to a stand before rejoining Eve.

"Does Mallory know you found our man?"

She nodded. "I rang him before I rang you. He told me that what happened next was entirely up to you."

She led him down the side of the hotel and around to a staff entrance, then placed a finger to her lips before leading him inside. He gave a nod, before following her along a corridor, then down a flight of steps into an ill-lit basement.

By the dim light of two ventilation grilles high up in the walls he saw a man of about forty, gagged and bound to a chair, green eyes ablaze with resentment.

Bond looked from the man to Eve, then ducked his head and kissed her chastely on the mouth. "You're an absolute sweetheart," he said softly in her ear. "Now go home."

She seemed startled by the kiss, but she shook her head firmly in response to his instruction. "I'll watch your back," she said quietly. "I don't care what you do to him, but you need someone to cover you."

He could tell she was perfectly serious, so he didn't waste time or words arguing, he just gave her a quick nod, then turned back to the man. He heard her stepping lightly away and knew she was heading back to the top of the stairs to keep a weather eye open.

He turned his attention to the man and stepped forward before crouching in front of him. He took a knife from a sheath strapped to his ankle and showed it to the man, who whimpered fearfully. 

"I'm going to take the gag off now," Bond said in a low voice, "but if you try to call for help, I'll kill you. Understand?"

The man jerked his head madly in a nod of agreement. Bond grabbed a handful of his hair, to hold him still, then yanked the gag away.

"Who put you up to recording my friend and I in our room?"

The man swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing convulsively. "He said his name was Mr Rodriguez," he whispered.

Bond unconsciously tightened his grip on the man's hair. "Describe him," he ordered, his voice a growl.

"T-t-tall man, b-blond hair," the man stuttered. "He had a Spanish accent. Seemed half way crazy."

 _Silva!_ Bond thought, savagely angry. "Did he tell you why he wanted us filmed?"

"N-n-no, sir. He caught me trying to steal money from his room. I thought he'd make a fuss and get me fired, but instead he offered me money to film you and your friend, and to keep my mouth shut afterwards. He told me that if he hadn't contacted me again by last Thursday at nine o'clock, then you would have killed him. I was to send the video file to a specific email address. He left me a laptop to use to send the file because I don't have a computer, and he told me what to write in the email."

The man shuddered with fear as Bond leaned over him, fingering the knife he held. "You've still got the laptop?"

"Yes, sir."

"Where is it?"

"Over there." The man jerked his head towards the far corner of the basement.

Bond got to his feet. "Don't think of crying for help," he warned, then moved across the room. Sure enough, there in the corner was a table, and resting on it was a laptop. Bond opened it up and stared at it for a long moment. It looked exactly like M's had done, when he'd 'borrowed' it a few times after letting himself into her house. He picked it up, tucking it under his arm, then returned to the man.

"Did you copy the video file anywhere else?" he asked.

"N-n-no, sir. Mr Rodriguez said it wouldn't be necessary." He flinched under Bond's hard scrutiny, then added, "I would not have dared to disobey Mr Rodriguez. He said he would kill my little girl if I didn't do exactly as he told me. He scared me, like you do."

Bond snorted. "I won't kill your daughter. But I will kill you if I find out you've lied to me." He thrust the knife under the man's nose. "Rodriguez is dead – I killed him with this knife. You were used by Rodriguez, but you were just a pawn in his power games against me and the friend you filmed." Bond glared down at the man, then sniffed disdainfully as he realised the man had just pissed himself. "Don't make me come after you again, understand?"

The man nodded jerkily, his eyes wide with terror. Bond hesitated, wondering if he ought to kill the man now, but the thought of M's disapproval made him refrain; as he'd told the man, he'd just been a pawn in Silva's power games against M. Then he leaned down and flicked the knife at the man's ear, cutting him. "Just something to remind you not to stray from the straight and narrow in the future," he said, his voice heavy with menace.

Bond reached behind the man and cut the plastic tie which Eve had used to fasten his hands. "Don't move. Stay here for twenty minutes after we leave, then you can go."

"Yes, sir." The man gave him a beseeching look as he pressed a handkerchief to his copiously bleeding ear. 

The agent gave him one last glare, then made his way up the steps and rejoined Eve.

"Everything all right?" she asked softly.

Bond nodded. "I've got the laptop he used. Silva put him up to it." 

They made their way out of the hotel. "I'm going to take this in to Q at HQ," he said. "Do you want a lift anywhere?"

She shook her head. "I'll get a cab home. I've been up all night, so I'm going to get some sleep."

Bond put the laptop into the carrier on the motorbike, then turned back to her. "Thank you, Eve, for everything." He put a hand on her shoulder, then leaned in and kissed her again.

"You're welcome, James," she said softly, giving him a shy smile. "I'll see you Monday."

He nodded. "You will." He watched her walk off, her stride graceful and easy, despite the fact she must have been tired, then he unchained his bike and crash helmet. He would drop off the laptop in Q branch – he had no doubt young Q would be there, despite it being a Saturday – then he'd go and speak to Mallory, maybe see if the other man wanted to go and have lunch with him. He owed him that much, at least, for the fact he'd let Eve help out Bond in this crisis.

He'd miss his M, without question, but he had a feeling the new one would work out all right in the long term.


End file.
